Chapter 1588: Snow White and Uncle Black Prince

Outside Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

This celebrated palace was first built in 1612, originally serving as the summer residence and hunting lodge of the Holy Roman Emperor, and was burned down by the Ottomans during the Battle of Vienna. Later it was rebuilt with funds provided by Henry I (Henri de Mancini), Grand Duke of the Archduchy of Austria, as a gift for his wife, Grand Duchess Marie Anne de Bourbon.

As the eldest illegitimate daughter of Emperor Louis, Marie Anne had been doted on since childhood, and in 1680, just after turning fifteen, she was married into the magnificent Schönbrunn Palace. She was thoroughly satisfied with the palace that now belonged to her and with her strikingly handsome husband Henry I — even though she knew Henry I was a notorious philanderer who had affairs with many European noblewomen and had fathered quite a few illegitimate children. Still, she and Henry I fell in love at first sight, plunged headlong into romance, and never looked back.

And Henry, for his part, was utterly captivated by this wife who was more than ten years his junior and as beautiful as a foreign fairy.

Since marrying Marie Anne, he had never again engaged in an extramarital affair. Of course, he had no opportunity to stray, because he and Marie Anne were practically inseparable, and the two of them slept in the same bed every single night.

During the day, however, Henri de Mancini always had endless official and commercial business to attend to. The Archduchy of Austria was not an easy place to govern.

The local nobility and common people still longed for the Habsburg dynasty, which had brought them little benefit. Toward Henry, they merely tolerated him. After all, Henry's wife Marie Anne also carried Habsburg blood (through Emperor Louis), and she was moreover a "legitimate daughter" of Emperor Louis the Great (legitimized from an illegitimate birth, though still ranking below children born in wedlock). By marrying Marie Anne, Henry had acquired a measure of legitimacy.

In addition, he had a group of Goan nobles from abroad who were also supporters of Henry, all of whom had been granted fiefs on lands around Vienna that had originally belonged to the Habsburg imperial house. Together with a number of merchants and artisans who had migrated from the Roman Empire, these gave Henry a certain foundation for rule.

Even so, he had to govern the grand duchy he had "swindled" his way into with extreme care, lest he be overthrown by the nobles and peasants below who still pined for the Habsburg dynasty.

Besides the troublesome Germans under his rule, he also had to handle the neighboring Roman Empire and Ottoman Empire with great caution — he could not afford to offend either, or the neutrality of the Archduchy of Austria could be broken at any moment.

Because the Mancini dynasty's foundations were too shallow, it could not mobilize the Germans, who made up the majority of the population, and so could only maintain a standing mercenary army of fewer than fifteen thousand men. It had no good commanders either, and had no choice but to let Eugène François de Savoie, who looked utterly incapable of fighting, serve concurrently as Regional Commander. It was practically a state with no defense at all!

So after returning from Versailles, Henry had been in a poor mood these days, because he did not know how to keep the Ottoman Empire in check. Then word came from the East: his dearest grandfather, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor, had passed away!

Although Henri de Mancini had even changed the surname Zhu handed down by his ancestors, that was only the better to spread the family line for his forebears — he was still a filial son and worthy descendant of the Great Ming!

Now that his grandfather had died, he naturally had to mourn him properly.

Marie Anne, who had just returned from hunting outside Schönbrunn Palace with her daughter Maria Theresa, had no sooner stepped into Henry I's office inside the palace than she was stunned by the sight of Henry trying on clothes.

For Henry I had already put on a very ugly white linen garment, and on his head he wore a very strange linen cap.

"My dear Henry, is there a masquerade ball today?" Marie Anne, who had passed her thirty-fifth birthday and borne Henry I six children, was still a rare beauty — fair-skinned, lovely, and with a figure so well maintained that no one could tell she had given birth to six children.

"Papa, that outfit of yours is simply hideous. If you're going to dress like that, I won't dance with you." The one calling Henry "Papa" was a girl of fifteen or sixteen, with brown hair, black eyes, and skin as white as snow, as delicate as a porcelain doll.

Her name was Maria Theresa von Mancini, daughter of Henry and granddaughter of Zhu Cilang. She had one-quarter Eastern blood, which made her more delicately featured than the average Western girl. Moreover, she possessed the noble blood of two great emperors, making her the most sought-after marriageable princess in all of Europe.

"Maria Theresa," Henry said, doing his best to put on a sorrowful expression, "there is no ball today. What I am wearing now is mourning dress — the clothes that children must wear in the East when an elder passes away."

"Oh, God!" Maria Theresa said, a little alarmed. "Who has died? Is it... my grandfather?"

Although she had never met Zhu Cilang, she was very fond of this emperor-grandfather who gave her a large sum of New Year's money every year. If this emperor-grandfather died, would she still receive New Year's money?

"No," Henry said, shaking his head. "It is my grandfather — the Great Ming Retired Emperor has passed away!"

"Oh, I remember now," Maria Theresa said with relief. "He must be ninety years old this year, right?"

"Yes, most unfortunate," Henry said. "I had thought he would live to be a hundred."

Marie Anne looked at her husband and consoled him: "Don't be sad. At least he achieved ninety percent of his survival goal."

"You're right," Henry said after a moment's thought. "Still, I shall have to live a life of abstinence for a while, to show my grief. That is the Chinese custom."

"What? Abstinence? You mean—" Marie Anne looked thoroughly displeased. "How long?"

"Let me think," Henry said, pondering. "For a father's death, I believe it is three years! For a grandfather's death..."

Marie Anne's eyes went wide. Three years? How could that possibly do? Even three weeks wouldn't do. Three days at most!

"Three days — yes, it seems it is three days!" Henry said with a perfectly straight face. "In addition, I must send someone to attend his funeral on my behalf. Marie, Maria — which of you is willing to make the trip to the East for me?"

"What? One of us?" Marie Anne burst out. She was hardly willing to go to the Great Ming alone. "My dear, are you not going?"

Henry shook his head. "No, I am not going. I cannot get away, because war is about to break out soon! I must remain in Austria."

"Then I'm not going either!" Marie Anne was unwilling to leave Henry.

"Maria," Henry said, looking at his precious daughter, "then you shall go. Your grandfather will be very happy to see you."

"What? Me? I have to go to the East..."

Henry nodded and said, "Correct! You will go to the East in my place, and take with you the gifts I have prepared for your grandfather, along with a large embassy. You will pass through the lands of the Ottoman Empire, board the warship of the Black Prince of the Sultanate of Zanzibar at Muscat, and then proceed together to the Great Ming."

"Oh God, I have to pass through Ottoman territory..." Maria Theresa, who looked just like Snow White, was thoroughly frightened.

The Ottomans — they were utterly ferocious! If a beauty like Maria Theresa passed through their lands, would she be captured and sold?

"There will be no problem," Henry said with a smile. "You are the granddaughter of the Celestial Emperor, and the Ottoman Sultan must treat you as his honored guest! Moreover, I will ask your uncle, the Black Prince of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, to come in person to Istanbul to receive you. With his Black Warrior Guard protecting you, you will be in no danger whatsoever."

The Black Prince of the Sultanate of Zanzibar was the son of Zhu Ciran, named Zhu Hetu. Though only twenty-one years old, he was already a celebrated figure on the Indian Ocean.

Having learned the command of warships and naval warfare from his father Zhu Ciran, at the age of seventeen he had received a warship of three hundred tons burden and begun sailing the Indian Ocean. In the four years since, he had taken part in dozens of battles large and small, shown great bravery, won most of his engagements, and become the most renowned naval commander on the Indian Ocean.

(End of Chapter)